Thursday, January 1, 2015

My Yearend Roundup: The BEST of PHILIPPINE THEATER 2014

January 1, 2015

Last year, I had seen and written about 36 theater productions: 12 musicals, 16 straight full-length plays, 8 one-act plays. 

Still, that is only a fraction of everything the very active local theater scene has offered for the general public in the past year.  I had not been able to see "Dani Girl",  "Grease" and other productions running in Makati in the second half of the year because of the problematic traffic situation. I was out of town when "Imaginarium" was shown. 

I will recount here what I feel were the best among those theater shows I have seen and written about for 2014.

I.  FILIPINO MUSICALS:


Best: RAK OF AEGIS (My Full Review)

This musical play, based on the lyrics of Aegis songs, is set in Barangay Venezia, a poor community wallowing in flood waters for several months now.  Aileen Dimaraan loves to sing, and wishes her singing will bring her fortune when she gets noticed by Ellen Degeneres. When her Youtube music video goes viral though, her dreams for fame and fortune are caught between familial, personal and even societal conflicts.  

Aicelle Santos beautifully essays the charming but flawed role of Aileen. Her singing is undeniably strong, as we have heard before. Those punishing wailing high notes of the Aegis girls were actually given more class and pathos when Aicelle sings their songs.



Honorable Mentions:

Ang Nawalang Kapatid (My Review)
Ang Huling Lagda ni Apolinario Mabini (My Review)
Filipinas 1941 (My Review)

Notable Performances: 

Aicelle Santos and Julienne Mendoza (Rak), Roeder Camanag and Poppert Bernadas (Mabini), Teetin Villanueva (Ang Nawalang Kapatid), MIcko Laurente (Kleptomaniacs, Prinsipe Munti)



II. NON-FILIPINO MUSICALS:


Best: SHREK THE MUSICAL (My Full Review)

The swamp home of the grumpy green ogre Shrek was overrun by fairy tale characters who were exiled there by Lord Farquaad of Duloc. Shrek with his new friend Donkey accepts the challenge set by Farquaad to save the Princess Fiona from her imprisonment in a tower guarded by a fire-breathing dragon. However, Fiona has a dark secret of her own that needs true love's first kiss to solve. Who will set her free from her nightly curse? Will it be Farquaad? Or can it be Shrek?

Franz Imperial was actually very good as Shrek!  His singing voice was full and very solid. He had Shrek's Scottish accent down. He had excellent buddy chemistry with the Donkey and romantic chemistry with Fiona, such that he did not feel like a short-notice replacement at all. Imperial was able to project the inner goodness of the gruff ogre from under all of that green rubbery make-up. This pinch-hitter hit a home run!  As Princess Fiona, Shiela Valderrama performed like I had never seen her perform before. Her songs showed off her comic flair on top of her flawless strong vocals. 

Honorable Mentions:

Ghost the Musical (My Review)
Priscilla Queen of the Desert (My Review)

*** Foreign Touring Production: Wicked (My Review)

Notable Performances: 

Franz Imperial and Shiela Valderrama-Martinez (Shrek), Cris Villonco and Ima Castro (Ghost), Red Concepcion, Michael Williams and Raymond Concepcion (Priscilla), Nikki Gil and Joaquin Valdez (The Last 5 Years)


III. FILIPINO PLAYS:

A. One-Act: 

Best: ANG NAGHIHINGALO (My Full Review)

Intoy suddenly suffers a stroke and needs P300,000 for brain surgery to drain the hemorrhage.  Being an ice cream seller who was just recently laid off from work, he did not have the money for this. Intoy's wife Felisa seeks the help of Intoy's three elder siblings, Guido, Doreen and Ate Linda. As Intoy lies critically in the ICU, his three siblings end up squabbling over past family issues instead of coming up with the cash.

At first, this play did not seem so promising because of the rather common and morose initial premise. However, as the play progressed, especially with the entry of Bong Cabrera as loud-mouthed Guido, the play's hilarious over-the-top nature revealed itself.  The entry of Dolly de Leon as Linda, the flamboyant loan shark eldest sister, further upped the comedy scale even more.  



Honorable Mentions: 

Betang (My Review)
The Missing Peace (My Review)

Notable Performances: 

Sherry Lara and Chino Veguillas (Betang), Dolly De Leon and Bong Cabrera (Ang Naghihingalo), Sarah Salazar (Bago Ilibing), Gio Gahol (Freshman)



B. Full-Length: Original Filipino Material or Filipino Adaptation: 

Best:  PAHIMAKAS SA ISANG AHENTE (My Full Review)

The play is about Willy Loman, a travelling salesman and also family man happily married to Linda, with two grown sons, Biff and Happy. As he gets older though, his boss takes him out of the company payroll and makes his earnings per commission-basis. With this demotion at work, his own sanity begins to unravel. Willy's stubborn pride makes him resist help from his family and friends. Ghosts from his past, like his elder brother Ben and the mysterious woman from Boston, insidiously creep into Willy's present dementia, throwing his family into a major turmoil.

"Pahimakas sa Isang Ahente" is no doubt a formidable play. It runs for about three and a half hours long. The main characters all have lengthy soliloquies, made more difficult by being in delivered Filipino. Some lines can be awkward to say in Filipino because they possessed a distinct American flavor in the words. The innate complexity of this play automatically makes the actors who take on this big challenge a notch above other actors. 

Honorable Mentions: 


Rite of Passage (My Review)
Ang Misis Kong Promdi (My Review)
Hakbang sa Hakbang (My Review)

Notable Performances:

Nanding Josef, Yul Servo and Gina Pareno (Pahimakas), Frances Makil-Ignacio and Ron Capinding (Rite of Passage), Guelan Luarca and Dolly de Leon (Middle Finger), Delphine Buencamino (Hakbang sa Hakbang), Tarek el Tayech and Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino (Ang Misis Kong Promdi), Ana Abad Santos and JC Santos (Fluid)



IV. NON-FILIPINO PLAYS:


Best: AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (My Full Review)

This play is set in a small Oklahoma town on one warm summer. Violet Weston reunites with her three willful daughters, Barbara, Ivy and Karen, when there was an unexpected death in the family. Fireworks fly when family secrets are revealed as mother and daughters clash, dragging the rest of the family along in their downward spiral.

The role of Violet, the dysfunctional wife and mother made worse by her dependency on drugs given for her oral cancer, was played by Sheila Francisco. Ms. Francisco had us all mesmerized by the sadistic web she is spinning. She owned that pivotal second act set around the lunch table completely. 




Honorable Mentions:

Rabbit Hole (My Review)
Wait Until Dark (My Review)
Cock (My Review)

Notable Performances: 

Sheila Francisco (August), Liesl Batucan (Wait Until Dark, August), Agot Isidro (Rabbit Hole), Cherie Gil (Full Throttle), Topper Fabregas and Jenny Jamora (Cock), Carla Laforteza-Guevara (Noises Off)

**********

Looking forward to more vibrant productions of the various local theater companies and more scintillating performances from multi-talented Filipino theater artists this year 2015! 


27 comments:

  1. I love going to the theater! These plays and musicals seems to be very nice!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am not into theatrical plays but your choices seems a must-see ones.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am quite selective of the theatre plays that I go to.. I prefer musicals to non-musicals :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. You wrote about 36 theatre productions. Seems a lot to me :) from these my favourite one is shrek ! It is great :D

    ReplyDelete
  6. I promised myself that I will watch more of these plays this year. I failed miserably at this 2014 because for some reason my friends aren't so much into plays and musicals. I've been in several plays and musicals when I was in school and I love them.

    I had plans to watch Grease and Shrek, but I missed both. First on my list this year is the adaptation of Beauty & the Beast which I'm really hoping to see since my place of work is near CCP.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I guess I will have to rely on your review for Beauty and the Beast. Strangely I don't feel like watching it, and none of my kids too. He he.

      Delete
  7. Im not a fan of plays but lookin at shrek poster mad me crack up.. Cheers my friend

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sure you would've enjoyed Shriek. They are having a special Christmas run up to today!

      Delete
  8. Your passion shows and really have the time to materialize it. You've got the feeling of fulfillment through your desire to excel in what you're doing.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Osage county...is that the same with the movie? I haven't heard of this show but I've worked with Chris Millado once. Anyway, I'm so envious at the number of shows you've been at this year. Wish I can do that, too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi May. It was the play that inspired the film. If you like the film, the live action of the play with the intense acting will really grab you.

      Delete
  10. I love theatre and musical, and you have really written quite a bit of review on this!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Reviews on a great varieties of movies, keep the good work, have a great year ahead..

    ReplyDelete
  12. SHREK THE MUSICAL was awesome, thanks for the review

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wow.. the year just started almost a week and there are so many theater concert already. Thanks for sharing

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thank you for sharing this. Maybe one goal for this year is to rekindle my love for theater. It's been 7 years since I last watched a live show.

    ReplyDelete
  15. It's nice that we have more theater plays now. I've been in a theater group when I was in High School and I know how hard they work just to come up with a single show. I've also been reading your reviews and how you passionately capture the essence of each plays.

    ReplyDelete
  16. You have seen some great productions and written well thought out reviews in 2014 Fred. I appreciate the opportunity to read about the entertainment culture of a land I will most not likely ever see in person. As an aside, I have heard that Shrek is great as a stage show and it is on my must see list for the coming year.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I've heard how beautiful the Shrek Musical was and I wish I could see it one day too. As for the others, I'm particularly interested with the Rak of Aegis because I'm a huge fan of that band. :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. i do hope that more and more theatre shows will be out on the upcoming years which focuses on history, family values and religion.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I'm not a fan of this theater show, but since everyone is saying Shrek Musical, bet it will be real entertaining. Thx for suggestion.

    ReplyDelete
  20. i love theater shows, especially musicals! the Shrek musical sounds so promising! i hope they come to SG soon!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Musicals are a favorite genre of mine because I love acting combined with singing and dancing. Your choice of musicals seems great and I should check out your listings.

    ReplyDelete
  22. You did an impressive job in 2014. I hope you have an even greater year of reviews and shows seen. Happy 2015!

    ReplyDelete
  23. I love Rak Of Aegis and I want watch it over and over. I am actually surprised how many plays there are in the Philippines. I hope there's more in 2015.

    ReplyDelete
  24. i love shrek! i wish i had watched the musical in london

    ReplyDelete